Office



Patented Oct. '5, 1886.

W. S. LAPHA'M.

SADDLE FASTENING.

ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS, Phoio'Lilbognphor Waihingiun, D. C.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES WINFIELD SCOTT LAPHAM,

OF OLEMMONS, COLORADO.

SADDLE-'FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 350,255, dated October 5, 1886.

Application filed July 12, 1886. Serial No. 207,781. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WINFIELD SCOTT LAP- HAM, of Clemmons,in the county of Elbert and State of Colorado, have invented new and Improved Saddle-Fastenings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to buckle and strap and girth-connections for holding riding or pack saddles to animals, and has for its object to provide simple, inexpensive, and efficient devices of this character, allowing the saddle to be fastened and unfastened easily and quickly, and to be tightened when necessary without requiring the rider to leave the saddle.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the saddle-fastenings, all as hereinafter fully described and claime Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the fastening with the end of the strap connecting the buckle to the saddle turned upward, the better to show the construction, and showing a portion of the saddle-girth. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the fastening, with parts of the saddle strap and girth, and showing the buckle provided with a short tongue. Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the buckle with a long tongue; and Fig. 4 is an edge view, showing a preferred method of attaching the fastening to the saddle-ring by the buckle-strap.

The saddle-girth buckle consists of three parts, a plate, A, a wire or rod frame, B, and a tongue, 0. The'plate A is provided near its lower edge with a couple of holes, a a, into which the hooks b b of the wire buckle-frame B may be passed, and near its upper edge the plate A has a slot, 0., through which the free end of a strap, D, is passed, said strap D being attached at its other end to the saddle, and having a series of holes, d, into any one of which the tongue 0 may be inserted.

A preferred method of attaching the strap D to the saddle is shown in Fig. 4, and is effected by attaching one end of the strap at d to a ring, D, held to the saddle, then passing the strap downward through the slot 0 of plate A,and thence upward and again through the ring D. and downward again and through the slot or, where the end d of the strap will be caught by the tongue of the buckle. This attachment of the strap to the saddle-ring and girth-buckle gives a good purchase in tightening the girth by pulling on the end (P of the strap D. The buckle-tongue 0 may be connected by the passage of its eye 0 through a slot, a*, made in the plate A near its lower edge, as in full lines in Fig. 1, and in Fig. 2;

or, if it is preferred to use a longer tongue, the

eye a of the tongue may be connected with the cross-bar b of the frame B, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and in full lines in Fig. 3. The free end of the saddle-girth E is permanently attached by its loop-strap e to the cross-bar Z) of the buckle-frame B, as clearly shown in the drawings.

To fasten the saddle to a horse or other animal, it only is necessary to connect the frame B by its hooks b with the plate A, and then tighten the saddlestrap D and catch it by the tongue 0, and when this is done the hooks 12 cannot slip from the holes a of the plate A, and the saddle will be securely held to the horse, and the girth may quickly be tightened at any time by drawing up the strap D and setting the buckle-tongue into a higher hole therein.

If desired, the holes a a, to receive the hooks b b of the buckle-frame B, may be substituted by a transversely-ranging slot in the plate A, as indicated by the dotted lines at a in Fig. l of the drawings, the slot being the equivalent of the holes; but the holes are preferred in practice. f m

It is obvious that with this buckle and saddle strap and girth connections a saddle may be very quickly and easily fastened to and unfastened from the animal, and the girth may be tightened by the rider when he is in the saddle.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a saddle-fastening, the combination, with aplate, A, having holes a a and slot a, and adapted to receive the saddle-strap, of a frame, B, having hooks b b, adapted to the holes a a of plate A, and adapted to receive the tongue, 0, hinged to plate A or frame B, and 10 adapted to engage holes in the saddle-strap,

and the girth E, permanently attached to the buckle-frame B, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

WINFIELD SCOTT LAPHAM. Witnesses:

ISAAC NEWTON SHORE, MARTIN J. CASEY. 

